End of an Era?

Commercialized space flight? By who? China? Burt Rutan?

The end of State subsidized space flight would be the beginning of a new dark age. Depending on emerging countries to pick up the slack will likely result in increased failures on the launch pad (of just above it) causing the costs to satellite makers to increase and the build quality of the satellites to go down. Satellites in that future will be expendable and less capable than those produced in the past. Lost capabilities and redundancy lead to less capabilities down here and and more floating junk up there. The result is an exponential curve toward regressed technology. Space flight will be a lost art practiced by the fore-fathers. The only lasting reminders being the constant rain of meteorites and scavenged metal from the skies. A dystopian, steam-punk future dominated by dirigibles and coal fired behemoths roaming the wastelands that surround the last few walled cities.

I can't wait.

-A-